MICROBIOLOGY HOMEWORK SET A
(E) Gram-positive bacteria have capsules, whereas gram-negative bacteria do
NAME:
___1. Vaccination against which bacterial species has been most successful
at reducing the number of cases of invasive diseases, including meningitis?
(A) Escherichia coli K1 (D) Neisseria meningitidis
(B) Haemophilus influenzae b (E) Streptococcus pneumoniae
(C) Listeria monocytogenes
___2. A 56yo renal transplant patient was hospitalized due to abrupt onset
of high fever (39.6 °C), confusion, headache, diarrhea, a cough productive of
scant sputum, and shortness of breath. He has hyponatremia. A chest xray
showed lobar infiltrates. Gm stain of sputum showed numerous neutrophils
only. A urine antigen test was positive for the causative agent. What is the
major virulence factor of the causative agent?
(A) Antiphagocytic capsule (D) Intracellular growth
(B) Cord factor (E) Pyocyanin
(C) Exotoxin production
___3.Physicians are investigating a cluster of acute diarrheal cases in
children who attend a preschool in a small Midwestern town. The children
presented with fever, acute episodes of bloody diarrhea, and petechial rash
or purpura. Two of the children have scanty urine output and are showing
signs of renal failure. Fecal leukocytes and parasites are absent in
microscopic smears. What is the most common infectious agent consistent
with this clinical picture?
(A) Bacillus cereus (D) Shigella flexneri
(B) Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (E) Yersinia enterocolitica
(C) Salmonella typhi
___4. The preschool in the above case only serves pasteurized milk and
packaged cookies to the children and epidemiologists quickly rule out a food
source as the risk factor. With this in mind, which of the following is the most
plausible means by which the children were infected?
(A) Contagious transmission from an infected child
(B) Drinking water of the preschool is contaminated with the microbe
(C) Failure to wash hands after visiting a petting zoo
(D) Fecal–oral transmission, most likely from the restroom
(E) Visiting the elderly in an assisted-living or nursing home facility
___5. A 78yo hospitalized male with an indwelling catheter develops a new
onset of fever. The urine sample has an alkaline pH. The bacterium isolated
from the urine is a urease-producing, highly motile, Gram-negative bacillus.
What is the most likely complication of this infection?
(A) Deposition of antigen–antibody complexes in the glomeruli
(B) Development of epididymitis
(C) Development of prostatitis
(D) Formation of struvite kidney stones
(E) Rapid dissemination throughout the body
___6. What is the pathogen most likely involved in the above case?
(A) Escherichia coli (D) Staphylococcus saprophyticus
(B) Proteus mirabilis (E) Ureaplasma urealyticum
(C) Pseudomonas aeruginosa
___7. Mycobacterium tuberculosis stains well with the acid-fast stain, but
not with the Gram stain. Which one of the following is the most likely reason
for this observation?
(A) It has a large number of pili that absorb the purple dye.
(B) It has a large amount of lipid that prevents entry of the purple dye.
(C) It has a very thin cell wall that does not retain the purple dye.
(D) It is too thin to be seen in the Gram stain.
(E) It has histones that are highly negatively charged
___8. Which one of the following is the most accurate description of the
structural differences between gram-positive bacteria and gram-negative
bacteria?
(A) Gram-positive bacteria have a thick peptidoglycan layer, whereas gram-
negative bacteria have a thin layer.
(B) Gram-positive bacteria have an outer lipid-rich membrane, whereas
gram-negative bacteria do not.
(C) Gram-positive bacteria form a sex pilus that mediates conjugation,
whereas gram-negative bacteria do not.
(D) Gram-positive bacteria have plasmids, whereas gram-negative bacteria
do not.
not.
___9. Lysozyme in tears is an effective mechanism for preventing bacterial
conjunctivitis. Which one of the following bacterial structures does lysozyme
degrade?
(A) Endotoxin (D) Pilus
(B) Nucleoid DNA (E) Plasmid DNA
(C) Peptidoglycan
___10. Several bacteria that form spores are important human pathogens.
Which one of the following is the most accurate statement about bacterial
spores?
(A) They are killed by boiling for 15 minutes.
(B) They are produced primarily by gram-negative cocci.
(C) They are formed primarily when the bacterium is exposed to antibiotics.
(D) They are produced by anaerobes only in the presence of oxygen.
(E) They are metabolically inactive yet can survive for years in that inactive
state
___11. Which of following culture media combination is/are true except:
a. Thayer-Martin media: Gonorrhea
b. Chocolate agar: Enriched media
c. Lowenstein-Jensen medium: Mycobacterium tuberculosis
d. Mueller-Hinton agar: Corynebacterium diphtheriae
e. MacConkey’s agar: Nonlactose fermenters form colourless colonies
___12. Recommended transport medium for stool specimen
suspected to contain enteric pathogens is:
a. Amie’s medium c. MacConkey medium
b. Buffered glycerol saline medium d. Blood agar
__13. Which one of the following is true:
a. Agar has nutrient properties
b. Chocolate medium is selective medium
c. Addition of selective substances in a solid medium
is called enrichment media
d. Nutrient broth is basal medium
___14. Pick the true statement regarding Plasmids:
a. Nonself-replicative
b. Acts as Messenger RNA
c. Involved in Conjugational transfer between strains
d. Involved in transformation
___15. Vaccination is based on the principle of:
a. Agglutination c. Immunological memory
b. Phagocytosis d. Clonal detection
___16. An outbreak of Calicivirus occurs in a home for disabled adults. What
is an important characteristic of this virus group that infl uences the
occurrence of disease outbreaks and their control and prevention?
(A) Long-term immunity after infection or vaccination
(B) Low infectious dose required for infection
(C) Susceptibility of the virus to chlorine cleaning agents
(D) Susceptibility of the virus to desiccation
(E) Transmission by inhalation of aerosolized virus particles
___17. A new antiviral agent is found to prevent uncoating in a number of
different viruses. At which part in the generalized virus replication cycle does
uncoating occur?
(A) Attachment, Penetration, Replication, Assembly, Release, Uncoating
(B) Attachment, Penetration, Replication, Assembly, Uncoating, Release
(C) Attachment, Penetration, Uncoating, Replication, Assembly, Release
(D) Attachment, Uncoating, Penetration, Assembly, Replication, Release
(E) Uncoating, Attachment, Penetration, Replication, Assembly, Release
___18. A new immune modulator is developed which enhances early
immunologic responses to viral infection. Which of the following is the
earliest immunological event that could be the target of this new drug?
(A) Activation of natural killer cells
(B) Activation of naïve viral-specifi c B cells
(C) Activation of naïve viral-specifi c T cells
(D) Antigen presentation by dendritic cells
(E) Production of IFN-γ by antiviral cytotoxic T cells animal sources
c. G. lamblia causes hemolytic anemia
___19. The 27yo pregnant mother of a child diagnosed with erythema d. G. lamblia can be diagnosed by the string test
infectiosum is concerned for the health of her fetus. What would be the
most likely outcome of fetal infection with the virus causing her child’s ___29. A 6yo boy, who has a history of eating dirt while playing in a park,
disease? develops a vision problem in one eye. An opaqueness of pupil or leukokoria
(A) Hydrocephalus (D) Microcephaly which prompted a visit to the ophthalmologist. Funduscopic exam reveals a
(B) Hydrops fetalis (E) Patent ductus arteriosus single granulomatous lesion of the retina. Assuming that his ocular condition
(C) Mental retardation is caused by a parasitic worm, what is most likely the etiologic agent?
(A) Ancylostoma caninum (D) Toxocara canis
___20. The effect on the fetus in the above question was caused by virus (B) Loa loa (E) Trichuris trichiura
replication in which fetal cells or tissues? (C) Onchocerca volvulus
(A) Cells of the aortic arch
(B) Endothelial cells of the CNS ___30. With the exception of one, all peace corps volunteers assigned to a
(C) Meninges remote village in African contract vivax malaria. Which of the following
(D) Neurons of the developing nervous system volunteers is the person who did not become infected with Plasmodium
(E) Pre-erythrocytes vivax?
(A) West African man (D) Asian-American woman
___21. A newly diagnosed HIV-infected male is being evaluated prior to (B) Italian-American woman (E) Central American man
being placed on antiretroviral therapy. What technique is used to determine (C) Mexican-American man from Texas
the number of CD4+ cells in his peripheral blood?
(A) Direct fluorescent antibody test (D) Immunoprecipitation ___31. An immigrant from eastern Asia develops a cholangiocarcinoma. A
(B) Enzyme-linked immunoassay (E) Quantitative PCR fecal sample shows evidence of a parasitic infection which the physician
(C) Flow cytometry believes to be linked to malignancy. What did the specimen reveal that led to
this conclusion?
___22. Amantadine is a drug used to reduce the ill effects of an infl uenza (A) Ameba cyst (D) Fluke eggs
virus A infection; however, increasing levels of resistance have limited its (B) Cryptosporidium oocysts (E) Nematode larvae
usefulness. Resistant strains of infl uenza A contain single amino acid (C) Flagellated protozoan trophs
substitutions in the M2 protein. With which aspect of the virus replication
cycle is this protein involved? ___32. Which of the following modes of transmission accounts for the
(A) Attachment (D) Release development of neurocysticercosis in humans?
(B) Genome replication (E) Uncoating (A) Ascarid eggs from soil (D) Fecal-oral taeniid eggs
(C) Penetration (B) Bladderworms in raw beef (E) Toxoplasma zoitocysts in raw pork
(C) Cyclosporan oocysts in water
___23. A prophylactic drug is being developed to prevent infection of cells by
M-tropic HIV strains following exposure at mucosal sites (vagina, colon). M- __33. Surgical removal of a liver cyst about the size of a tennis ball from a 45-
tropic HIV strains primarily infect which of the following cell types? year-old man reveals the presence of protoscolices, allowing for a defi nitive
(A) Colonic mucosal cells (D) Mast cells diagnosis. The patient likely acquired this infection by ingesting what?
(B) Intestinal M cells (E) Vaginal mucosal cells (A) Cyst-contaminated raspberries grown in Guatemala
(C) Macrophages (B) Food or water contaminated with tapeworm eggs
(C) Undercooked calf liver containing hydatid sand
___24. In January, a 66yo woman presents a fever of 102 °F, chills, back pain, (D) Undercooked fi sh or shellfi sh containing larvae
headache, and marked fatigue. Her physician prescribes oseltamivir and she (E) Viable cysticerci in pork or pork products
rapidly recovers. With which etiologic agent was she infected?
(A) Coronavirus (D) Respiratory syncytial virus ___34. A businessman who recently returned from a trip to Scandinavia goes
(B) Influenza virus (E) Varicella-zoster virus to the clinic because of intestinal distress. Based on positive stools, a
(C) Parainfluenza virus diagnosis of diphyllobothriasis is made. Which of the following diagnostic
stages would support this conclusion?
___25. What is the mechanism of action of oseltamivir? (A) Armed scolex and segments (D) Rhabditiform juveniles
(A) Directly prevents replication of the viral genome (B) Elongated eggs with a thin shell (E) Thick, corrugated oval eggs
(B) Prevents the release of mature virions from the infected host cell (C) Operculated eggs with an anopercular knob
(C) Inhibits the uncoating of the virus
(D) Inhibits the translocation of the viral genome to the nucleus ___35. What is the most likely vehicle for infection in the above case?
(E) Binds directly to the virus RNA polymerase active site (A) Drinking water (D) Salad greens
(B) Raw fish (E) Soil or sewage
___26. Each of the following statements concerning kala-azar is correct (C) Raw hamburger
except:
a. Kala-azar is caused by Leishmania donovani ___36. A 3-month-old child presents to the ER in March with low-grade
b. kala-azar is transmitted by the bite of sandflies fever, tachypnea, dyspnea, wheezing, and cyanosis. A chest xray reveals
c. Kala-azar occurs primarily in rural latin America hyperinflation. What is the most likely microbial cause of this child’s
d. Kala-azar can be diagnosed by finding amastigotes in bone marrow symptoms?
(A) Adenovirus (D) Mycoplasma pneumoniae
___27. Each of the following statements concerning hookworm infection is (B) Chlamydophila pneumoniae (E) Respiratory syncytial virus
correct except: (C) Infl uenza virus
a. Hookworm infection can cause pneumonia
b. Hookworm infection is acquired by humans when filariform larvae ___37. A 27yo female is diagnosed with acute retroviral syndrome and is
penetrate the skin placed under the management of infectious disease specialists. Which of the
c. Hookworm infection is caused by Necator americanus following, if it occurred in this patient, would indicate that she has
d. Hookworm infection can be diagnosed by finding the trophozoite in the progressed from HIV infection to AIDS?
stool (A) CD4 cell count 50% of normal (D) Thrush
(B) Invasive cervical carcinoma (E) Viral load >100,000/cmm
___28. Each of the following statements concerning Giardia lamblia is (C) Shingles
correct except:
a. G. lamblia has both a trophozoite and cyst stage in its life cycle
b. G. lamblia is transmitted by the fecal oral route from both human and